. The offer was, however, declined.

Mr. Chadwick completed his law studies, and was called to the bar in
November, 1830. He was preparing to enter upon the practice of common
law, occasionally contributing articles to the _Westminster_, when he
was, in 1832, appointed a commissioner, in conjunction with Dr.
Southwood Smith and Mr. Tooke, to investigate the question of Factory
Labour, which Lord Ashley and Mr. Sadler were at that time strongly
pressing upon public attention. The sanitary idea again found
opportunity for expression in the report of the commission, which
referred to "defective drainage, ventilation, water supply, and the
like, as causes of disease,--acting, concurrently with excessive toil,
to depress the health and shorten the lives of the factory population."

In the same year (1832) an important Commission of Inquiry was appointed
by Lord Grey's Government, in reference to the operation of the Poor
Laws in England and Wales. Mr. Chadwick was appointed one of the
assistant commissioners, for the purpose of taking evidence on the
subject; and the districts of London and Berkshire were allotted to him.
His report, published in the following year, was a model of what a
report should be. It was full of information, admirably classified and
arranged, and was so racy,--by virtue of the facts brought to light, and
the care taken to preserve the very words of the witnesses as they were
spoken,--that the report may be read with interest by the most
inveterate enemy of blue-books.

Mr. Chadwick showed himself so thoroughly a master of the subject,--his
suggestions were so full of practical value,--that he was, shortly after
the publication of the report, advanced from the post of assistant
commissioner to that of chief commissioner: and he largely shared, with
Mr. Senior, in the labours and honours of the commissioners' report
submitted to the House of Commons in 1834, and also in the famous
Poor-Law Amendment Act passed in the same year, in which the
recommendations of the commissioners were substantially adopted and
formalized.

One may venture to say now, without fear of contradiction, that that law
was one of the most valuable that has been placed on the statute-book in
modern times. And yet no law proved more unpopular than this was, for
years after it had been enacted. But Mr. Chadwick never ceased to have
perfect faith in the soundness of the principles on which it was based,
and he was indefatigable i